City of Thieves

Chapter 1, now narrated by 17-year-old Lev Beniov, a citizen of Leningrad, has a compelling and dramatic opening. It is January 1942, and Lev bluntly describes the extreme deprivation, starvation, and intense fear that has pervaded Leningrad since the Germans arrived the previous June.

Lev reveals that many of Leningrad’s citizens have already evacuated the city, including his own mother and sister. Lev chose to stay behind, for he wants to defend his beloved city, which is nicknamed Piter. At 17, he is too young to join the army, but he contributes to the war effort by digging antitank ditches during the day and guarding the roofs of the Kirov, his apartment block, at night. While guarding the roofs, he is accompanied by his friends, Vera and twins Oleg and Grisha. During one of these night watches, Vera spots the body of a dead German parachutist falling from the sky. For these naïve young teenagers, the discovery brings great excitement and the opportunity for looting; Lev helps himself to the parachutist’s knife.

However, a few moments later, they are thrown into a terrifying experience as soldiers find them. The punishment for looting is “summary execution.” They run back to the Kirov; Lev almost makes it over the gate but reluctantly turns back to help Vera, who has slipped. Vera follows the twins into the building, but Lev is caught and arrested.

Lev is taken to the local prison, the Crosses, a terrifying place that has always haunted the people of Leningrad, most notably for its intimidating silence. After what feels like many long hours alone in his dark cell, the door opens and another prisoner is escorted in: Nikolai Alexandrovich Vlasov, known as Kolya. He is a handsome soldier who is bold, friendly, and talkative. He asks if Lev is a Jew, and when Lev reluctantly admits to having a Jewish surname, Kolya tells him this is nothing to be ashamed of. Lev wonders if Kolya understands how dangerous the situation is for Jewish people.

Kolya, a scholar of literature, tells Lev that he was arrested for desertion, something he strenuously denies. They both wonder why they have not been immediately executed. After writing in his journal, Kolya falls asleep easily, envied by the insomniac Lev, who suddenly remembers that he still has the German knife strapped to his leg.

The following morning, instead of being taken to their execution, Lev and Kolya are escorted into a waiting car. While Lev obeys the guards’ every word, Kolya is outspoken and brazen, provoking a sharp warning that does not seem to bother him. They are taken to a mansion inhabited by the NKVD, whose presence has terrorized the people of Leningrad. There they meet the colonel, an intimidating man who interrogates Lev, asking him what he took from the German soldier’s body. Lev proves an “honest thief” when he hands over the knife—only to be surprised when the colonel gives it back, telling him he will need it.

After offering them food, the colonel takes Lev and Kolya outside. While they watch the colonel’s daughter ice skating, Lev contemplates what happened to his father. A Jewish poet who wrote about the Leningrad underworld, he was taken away by the NKVD in 1937 and never returned. Lev suspects that the colonel himself has also been subjected to torture but, unlike Lev’s father, he was given another chance: “An intelligence officer might hold future value for the state, but a decadent poet did not” (50).

The colonel offers Lev and Kolya an opportunity to escape execution by complying with a bizarre request. His daughter is getting married on Friday and needs eggs for a cake, despite the fact that the people of Leningrad are starving. If Lev and Kolya can find a dozen eggs by Thursday, their ration cards will be returned and they will be free men. If they fail, they will die.